Bellingham or Sancho to join exclusive Champions League club

Only four Brits playing abroad have ever won Europe’s premier club tournament

Jude Bellingham will go head-to-head against Jadon Sancho and Jamie Bynoe-gittens for Champions League glory at Wembley on June 1 – meaning at least one player will join an elite group of Brits to have lifted the silverware while playing abroad.

Sancho played a starring role in Borussia Dortmund's semi-final success against Paris St Germain, with Bynoe-gittens an unused sub in both legs, while Bellingham helped Real Madrid to a dramatic 4-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich.

Here, The News looks at the four previous ‘Brits abroad’ Euro champions.

Paul Lambert: The Scot starred for Borussia Dortmund in the 1997 final when he kept Juventus' Zinedine Zidane quiet throughout the contest in Munich which the German club won 3-1.

Steve Mcmanaman: The first Englishman to feature in a Champions League final for a foreign club in 2000, he scored during the 3-0 success against Laliga rivals Valencia.

The former Liverpool winger bagged his second European title with Real two years later at Hampden Park, where he made a second-half substitute appearance.

Owen Hargreaves: He played the full 120 minutes in Bayern's midfield during the 2001 final against Valencia which was dominated by spot-kicks.

Gaizka Mendieta put Valencia ahead with his early penalty and Santiago Canizares saved Bayern midfielder Mehmet Scholl's spot-kick later in the first half.

A third penalty was awarded in the 50th minute, which Stefan Effenberg converted to level, and the match finished 1-1 after extra time. Bayern then won 5-4 on penalties.

Gareth Bale: Britain's most decorated export won the competition five times during his career at Real Madrid.

He scored in the 2014 win over city rivals Atletico, with further wins coming in 2016, 2017 and 2018 – scoring twice against Liverpool after coming on as a sub in the latter game.

The Welshman was an unused sub in the 2022 final when Real beat Liverpool 1-0 in Paris.

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